Offense Comes Alive Late in Mets’ Win Over Royals

The first time Mark Vientos came up with the bases loaded Friday, he struck out and broke his bat in frustration. The second time, he hit a go-ahead, three-run double to help lift the Mets to an 8-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

Juan Soto scored from first on the double, sliding around the catcher just ahead of the tag to give the Mets a 4-3 lead in the eighth inning. The big hit came after Pete Alonso struck out with the bases loaded and nobody out and broke the bat over his knee. It also got Huascar Brazobán off the hook after he coughed up a tie-breaking, two-run home run to Bobby Witt Jr. in the seventh inning.

The Mets (54-41) exploded for four runs in the ninth on back-to-back home runs – a three-run blast by Francisco Lindor and a Soto solo shot – that made the final score misleading.

The game marked the return of Kodai Senga, who used excellent pitching, quick reflexes and a little bit of luck to escape jam after jam after jam.

Senga, returning from a strained right hamstring that he suffered covering first base on June 12, threw four scoreless innings and gave up four hits, walked two and struck out four. It was his 31st-straight start allowing three earned runs or fewer. The Royals missed chances to end that streak right from the start.

Kansas City (46-49) had runners on second and third with nobody out in the first. Senga struck out Vinnie Pasquantino, caught a Maikel Garcia line drive back to the mound (78.6 mph exit velocity) and fanned Salvador Perez.

Senga caught a break on the Garcia line drive because he tried to double off the runner at third and the ball got away, but third baseman Ronny Mauricio stepped on runner Jonathan India‘s hand as he was trying to reach for the base and he was in too much pain to advance.

The Royals had two on and two out in the second, but Senga retired India when Mauricio made a nice play on a hot shot (82.4 exit velocity) to third that he fielded backhanded on a short hop. With two on and two out in the third, Senga threw four consecutive ghost forks to rookie Jac Caglianone, and he chased the last one for strike three.

The Mets scored their first run when Alonso worked an eight-pitch walk with the bases loaded in the third inning. Vientos came up after Alonso and struck out to end the frame, then broke the bat. Vientos may have been upset with a questionable called strike earlier in the at-bat that had manager Carlos Mendoza arguing with umpire Jim Wolf.

The Mets had a 1-0 lead in the sixth inning when Nick Loftin hit a ball off the end of the bat into left field. Brandon Nimmo could have played it safe and let it fall for a single, but he tried to make a diving catch with two outs and Perez on first. He failed to come up with it, the ball got behind him, and Perez scored.

Stat of the Game

It was the sixth time the Mets won a game this year when trailing after seven innings.

Player of the Game

Vientos was 2-for-5 with the big three-run double. Honorable mention to Senga, who threw 42 of 67 pitches for strikes and lowered his ERA to 1.39. Welcome back.

On Deck

Frankie Montas (1-1, 6.14 ERA) faces Michael Lorenzen (5-8, 4.61 ERA) in the penultimate game of the first half. Lorenzen’s career ERA is 4.06, but it’s 2.61 in 41 1/3 career innings vs. the Mets. First pitch is at 4:10 p.m. ET on SNY.

 

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